Chapter 104: The Power of Creation

Apprentice of Creation, Level 2: Freely combine skeleton forms below Level 100. Success Rate: 40%. Upon failure, the original materials disappear.

Li Ren finally completed the rank advancement for Apprentice of Creation after crafting one hundred skeletal pegasi. Looking at the neat formation of a hundred skeletal pegasus mages lined up before him, he nodded with a smile.

The success rate would be higher now, and with continued effort, his progress would only accelerate.

And so, he buried himself in his work, and the experience points for Apprentice of Creation naturally continued to climb.

While Cloudfall City was busy restructuring its armaments, a brand-new atmosphere was emerging within Matchless City.

The players belonging to the Matchless Legion were now fully clad in top-tier equipment for their level. Five sub-guilds had been established on the periphery of the main legion, each packed to the brim with players standing in five neatly arranged, massive formations.

From the very first day Matchless City was built, these players had set it as their base of operations. Meanwhile, countless other factions and merchants kept a greedy eye on the city's various resources.

When Cloudfall City was established, it hadn't attracted nearly as much attention, largely due to its city lord.

Li Ren had never shown his face, and the system had never announced the founding of Cloudfall City. To the public, Cloudfall City was just another system-generated city, albeit one whose status had become neutral and could be utilized by players.

However, they had no access to the true benefits—namely, the authority reserved for the city lord. Because of this, they harbored doubts and found themselves unable to achieve their ultimate goals.

In contrast, the founding of Matchless City by the Matchless Legion perfectly aligned with their desires. The city lord was Sauron. Knowing his identity meant that no matter what they wanted to do, they could always contact him.

As long as they could get in touch with the leader himself, these factions and merchants had no fear of not getting what they wanted. After all, everything was open to negotiation.

Without room for negotiation, these people would naturally feel ill at ease.

Thus, Matchless City developed at a blistering pace. Every single shop lot was booked solid right from the start, and some were even trying to reserve shops in Yuxiao City in advance.

If Li Ren were to witness this scene, he would surely burst out laughing.

These guys were simply too arrogant, completely blind to their own limitations.

Since that was the case, he wouldn't mind teaching them a hard lesson and showing them what absolute power truly meant!

But for now, Li Ren had no time to waste on those ignorant fools. He was far too busy with the work at hand.

One by one, the skeletal pegasi were modified by his hands. As he grew more proficient, both his speed and efficiency skyrocketed.

However, starting from Level 2 of Apprentice of Creation, leveling up was no longer an easy task.

Even after completing nearly five hundred pegasi, his experience bar had only filled by about half.

This meant that to reach Level 3, he would need to craft at least another five hundred.

Time flew by.

Three days later.

Outside Yuxiao City, the section of the wall that had collapsed during the monster siege still lay in ruins on the ground.

Although the system was slowly repairing it, given the wall's natural self-recovery rate, it would likely take a month or two to be fully restored.

Therefore, attacking Yuxiao City right now would be the easiest it would ever be.

First, Yuxiao City's defensive capabilities had been reduced to their absolute limit in the short term. Furthermore, with a section of the wall still collapsed, invading forces could charge straight in without the obstacle of a wall, making the assault significantly easier.

If they delayed any longer and allowed Yuxiao City to fully recover, it would become an impossible task.

At least with the current level of the players, such a feat would be entirely out of the question.

It was precisely with this in mind that Li Ren had spent this time rapidly increasing his own strength. After all, Mount Fanyun was still out there, and without sufficient power, capturing the city would be nothing but a pipe dream.

Still, having Sauron lead the vanguard was a perfect setup. Once they fought to the bitter end, Li Ren wouldn't mind stepping in to reap the spoils as the third party.

However, the timing of this intervention had to be calculated precisely. Otherwise, instead of reaping the benefits of their clash, he might end up letting the tiger return to the mountain—a loss he could not afford.

Outside Yuxiao City, six massive player formations stood with soaring morale, glaring hungrily at the ruined city before them, radiating pure killing intent.

They cared nothing for the fact that not long ago, they had been the very defenders fighting to protect this city.

The time designated by the system prompt arrived in a flash.

The moment the timer hit zero, Yuxiao City transformed, its entire atmosphere shifting dramatically from its usual state.

Sauron's eyes narrowed. Recalling the words that the mysterious figure had said to him that day, he unsheathed his twin swords and pointed them forward. The player legion began their fierce charge.

Meanwhile, Li Ren led his fully modified army of one thousand skeletal pegasus mages, rushing from Cloudfall City toward Yuxiao City.

They kicked up a massive storm along the way, presenting a truly magnificent sight.

Indeed, these pegasus riders were led by Li Ren himself.

But why was it Li Ren? Maomao could not possibly have reached Level 80 and undergone his third evolution so quickly.

To understand the details, one had to look back to when Li Ren was still in Cloudfall City.

Just as he finished the painstaking process of successfully modifying all one thousand pegasus riders, Apprentice of Creation naturally leveled up as well.

With this advancement, Apprentice of Creation reached Level 3, and its attributes underwent a major transformation.

Apprentice of Creation, Level 3 (Max): Freely modify and combine skeleton forms below Level 150. Modifications will not fail. Attributes are determined by the structural variations of the modified form. (The sacred mission is to create.)

Looking at this change in attributes, Li Ren was somewhat puzzled, but after testing it out on a skeletal knight, he understood.

What would have previously been deemed a failure would no longer vanish instantly. Instead, it would display anomalous attributes based on how Li Ren had modified it.

For instance, take the creature in front of him: its two wings were poorly balanced. When he ordered it to take off, the pegasus and its rider plunged straight out of the sky.

What was worse, it fell headfirst. Li Ren's face darkened with exasperation, but fortunately, he still had the chance to repair it.

After carefully adjusting its alignment, the off-balance skeletal pegasus was successfully converted into a finished product.

Checking the time, he realized it was just about time to set off.

Landis and Lania had already packed up and were standing aside, watching Li Ren complete his modifications.

Li Ren did not waste any more time. He summoned a massive pile of materials—bones of all shapes and sizes, truly a comprehensive collection—and stuffed them directly into the Ring of Ashes. With that, he led his companions out of Cloudfall City and headed toward Yuxiao City.